Editing Rough Riders (section)

=== Formation ===
[[File:Col roosevelt rough rider.jpg|thumb|right|Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in his Rough Riders uniform on October 26, 1898, by [[George G. Rockwood|Rockwood]].]]

The volunteers were gathered in four areas: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. They were gathered mainly from the southwest because the hot climate region that the men were used to was similar to that of Cuba where they would be fighting. "The difficulty in organizing was not in selecting, but in rejecting men."<ref name=TR>{{cite book |last=Roosevelt |first=Theodore |title=Rough Riders |year=1899 |publisher=P.F. Collier & Son Publishers |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Theodore_Roosevelt_Rough_Riders.djvu |access-date=September 30, 2013}}</ref>{{rp|5}} The allowed limit set for the volunteer cavalry men was promptly met. With news trickling down of Spanish aggression and the sinking of the USS ''Maine'', men flocked from every corner of the regions to display their patriotism. They gathered a diverse bunch of men consisting of cowboys, gold or mining prospectors, hunters, gamblers, Native Americans, and college boys—all of whom were able-bodied and capable on horseback and in shooting. Half the unit would come from New Mexico according to Roosevelt.<ref name="NM">{{cite book |last1=Sánchez |first1=Joseph P. |last2=Spude |first2=Robert L. |last3=Gómez |first3=Art |title=New Mexico : A History |date=2013 |location=Norman |isbn=978-0-8061-4256-2 |pages=179}}</ref><ref name="NM2">{{cite web |title=New Mexico Tells New Mexico History {{!}} History: Statehood |url=http://online.nmartmuseum.org/nmhistory/people-places-and-politics/statehood/history-statehood.html |website=online.nmartmuseum.org |access-date=6 March 2021}}</ref> Among these men were also police officers and military veterans who wished to see action again, most of whom had already retired. Thirty years removed from any armed conflict, men who had served in the regular army during campaigns against Native Americans or during the Civil War sought out to serve as higher-ranking officers,<ref name=TR />{{rp|10}} since they already had the knowledge and experience to lead and train the men. The unit thus would not be without experience. [[Leonard Wood]], an Army doctor who served as the medical adviser for both the President and Secretary of War, was appointed colonel of The Rough Riders, with Roosevelt serving as lieutenant colonel.<ref>David S. Pierson, "What the Rough Riders lacked in military discipline, they made up for with patriotic fervor and courage" ''Military History'', XV (June 1899), 10.</ref> One particularly famous spot where volunteers were gathered was in San Antonio, Texas, at the [[Menger Hotel]] Bar. The bar is still open and serves as a tribute to the Rough Riders, containing much of their and Theodore Roosevelt's uniforms and memories.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stuck |first1=Eleanor |title=Menger Hotel |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dgm02 |website=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=31 August 2018}}</ref>